British Forces Establish Foothold in Penobscot Bay
The greatest naval disaster in our nation’s history until Pearl Harbor was a largely forgotten episode that took place on the remote coast of Maine in the summer of 1779. That year, Lord George Germaine, the British Secretary of State for the American colonies, decided to establish a northern foothold on the coastline between Boston and Halifax to better suppress smuggling that was rampant in New England.
Tom Hand, creator and publisher of Americana Corner, discusses England’s plan for the convoy that arrived in Penobscot Bay on June 12, 1779, and why it still matters today.
Images courtesy of The New York Public Library, Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library, Library of Congress, Architect of the Capitol, Wikipedia.
As morning broke on August 17, 1779, Vice-Admiral Sir George Collier, the commander of the small British flotilla inside Penobscot Bay, could hardly believe what had transpired over the past three days. Arriving with the expectation of a stiff fight from an American fleet much larger than his own, no battle ever materialized as the American commanders chose self-destruction to facing British guns.